Australian journalist Peter Greste and his two Al Jazeera colleagues Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed, have been sentenced to three years in prison by a Cairo court.

The court said the three journalists had operated in Egypt without a press licence, and broadcast material harmful to Egypt, in a case that has triggered an international outcry.

Australian journalist Peter Greste.Credit:Reuters

The verdict in the retrial was issued against Fahmy, a naturalised Canadian who has given up his Egyptian citizenship, Mohamed, an Egyptian, and Australian Greste, who was deported in February.

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Greste, who was in Sydney when the verdict came down, tweeted his shock and anger.

Journalists Baher Mohamed and Mohammed Fahmy, with Peter Greste, during a court appearance in Cairo in January.Credit:AP

Greste told Fairfax Media before the verdict that a guilty judgment for him would mean a criminal record as a convicted terrorist.

"The Egyptians would then issue an international arrest warrant, which would mean that I couldn't travel to any country that had an extradition treaty with Egypt," he said.

The trial, detention and re-trial have drawn international condemnation from human rights and press freedom groups.

Greste told Fairfax Media before the verdict that he was "not optimistic".

"There was no basis to convict us the first time around, but the process over there is so opaque."

Greste was arrested in Egypt in December 2013, while working for the Al Jazeera network. Along with colleagues Mohamed Fahmy, a Canadian, and Egyptian Baher Mohamed, Greste was charged with airing false news and aiding the Muslim Brotherhood, a banned organisation in Egypt. The three men spent 400 days in jail. In January, 2015, their convictions were overturned, and, in February, Greste was deported to Australia. Shortly afterward, however, a re-trial was ordered, leaving the Australian in legal limbo.

"We made a request to appear at the trial by video link," Greste said. "But we never got a response from the court, so in effect they tried me in absentia."

"It's a worry for me," he said. "A lot hinges on this verdict: where I live, who I work for, what I do. A criminal conviction would certainly make a mess of my career as a correspondent."

The verdict had been adjourned twice already, once because the judge was sick.

"It has already caused me headaches. I can't travel to the US without special clearance from the State Department."

With or without a conviction, Greste anticipates devoting "a big part of my life to advocacy work and issues of press freedom, because I feel I have a responsibility to do that".

Greste flew from Brisbane to Sydney this morning, so that he could watch the verdict live on TV in the office of his lawyer, Chris Flynn.